So when I checked my player statistics today I was dismayed it didn't have my win recorded. So I asked a moderator why and he said they don't keep statistics on wins/losses. Don't keep statistics on wins and losses?

My major in College was Systems Analysis. It is basically a degree in problem solving. We learn about computers, statistics, math, forecasting, simulation etc. One of the things my professors told us was, "If you want performance to improve, keep score." Do we not want performance to improve anymore? The first strategy game in recorded history was written in 4000 BC by a Chinese emperor to teach his (technical term) retarded son how to be an emperor. The game was called "Go" and it was a success. His son grew up to be a good emperor. 6000 years later, as a result of people applying the teachings of another Chinese person Tsun Tsu, we're sabotaging our own culture. I am afraid to see how the next generation of children is going to turn out. Tsun Tsu said that war is inefficient. It is much more cost effective to sabotage your enemies with ideas, identify their strengths and subvert them, stir up an enemy's population with lies and turn them against each other, etc. Once an enemy is weak enough you can walk in and take the place and the inhabitants might even be happy you came. If not they will be easy to kill.

Please stop the participation bonus ranking system. Give us stats. Don't do it for me, do it for the world, do it for yourself, because some day you are going to be relying on the decisions made by the next generation.

Sure, like every other game there will be some players who hunt newbs for wins. But then they will be hunted themselves and ganged up on and there won't be anything they can do about it because they didn't learn to play while hunting newbs. For the others of us we have incentive and motivation to improve. The game becomes more interesting since everything you do matters.

wildL wrote:

Ehhh

Wins/losses do count in statistics. I'm not sure what you mean - could you elaborate ?

Wins and losses should count in statistics but this game doesn't keep track of wins/losses or any other statistics that make much of a difference. Interestingly it does keep track of lost territories vs conquered ones but that statistic can be deceptive because of game mechanics. For instance, I have 50ish lost territories. Nearly all of those were from fighting one decent player where I was able to slip several armored cars through his lines. He had 70 territories I think. He was the world leader at the time. I mutilated the morale of his territories but didn't even attempt to defend them until he was floundering and unable to build troops. He kept taking them back but the damage was done. He was much larger than me but I took him down in about 5 turns.

Wins/Losses on the other hand are the ultimate measure of achievement. Sure, other stats matter too but that is the greatest indicator of skill. If I wanted to pump up my rank all I would have to do under the current system is gain 550 VP and then build up every province completely with everything that could be built. Massive points but indicate nothing. 1st 2nd and 3rd stats should be kept as well. A special stat for elite ai vs regular ai stats would be nice. win%, K/D ratios, # players killed off, players killed off/game, ai countries killed off/game. Average rank of killed off players (based on a ranking system that attempts to indicate skill). that is just a few. so many stats would be nice. They would make the games more interesting. They would help us to understand our competition. They would allow for bragging rights. They would be a motivation for players.

yes, I mean win a map.

They could give the top 3 players "wins" and then show another stat on first,2nd, and 3rd. Winning a map completely, shows something "captured provinces" don't. It shows that you can be successful at every stage of the game. From beginning to end, strategy evolves. A player could get an awful lot of captured provinces by simply being good (or at least really aggressive) early game and faltering later. I suspect this happens to a lot of players. I know after I went on a rampage taking a ton of provinces in my first game my resource output went down the drain. Reason: Captured provinces require food and products to sustain their morale. I couldn't afford to keep as many troops with 200 provinces as 150. I quickly realized my error and fixed things. Under normal circumstances a super aggressive player is going to jump out of the blocks fast. That is until he faces someone who knows how to defend. Then the aggressive player is likely to wipe himself out.

Why on earth would you defend the practice of not keeping track of wins?